Europe

Since its establishment in 1984, the Institute has been working actively with human rights in Europe and Central Asia. For more than 25 years, we have together with the Faculty of Law at Lund University offered the Master’s Programme in International Human Rights Law.

Since the late 1990s, our extensive involvement has encompassed capacity development programmes aimed at fostering human rights transformations within institutions across Europe and Central Asia. These initiatives extend across academic institutions, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), government bodies, civil society organisations, as well as justice sector institutions. Notably, we have implemented regional training programmes focusing on human rights and gender equality, catering to professionals from the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.

In addition to our bi-lateral cooperation in the region, the Institute is co-organising the Academy for Young Professionals, involving participants from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden. Another regional engagement concerns our ongoing collaboration with academic and civil society partners in the Nordic and Eastern European States, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Swedish Institute.

In terms of bilateral cooperation, the Institute has previously been engaged with actors in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Uzbekistan. We have also had partnerships with the NHRIs in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as with the Azerbaijan Young Lawyers’ Union.

Between 2010 and 2020, we cooperated with several academic institutions in Belarus through a comprehensive programme enhancing capacities to deliver high quality human rights education and research. Main results include the first Gender and Law courses run at universities in Belarus, and the establishment of a human rights centre producing multi-disciplinary research on topical human rights issues.

Since 1998, the Institute has cooperated with academic institutions in Turkey supporting human rights teaching and research capacity, and since 2018, with also municipalities to improve human rights work at local level by strengthening interaction between academic institutions, municipalities, and civil society organisations. As notable results, our seven partner municipalities have now passed City Council Decisions to become Human rights cities.

For more information about our activities and cooperations in Europe, please contact:

Zuzana Zalanova

Zuzana Zalanova

Operations and Regional Director - Europe

Phone: +46 46 222 12 57
E-mail: zuzana.zalanova@rwi.lu.se

Ms. Zalanova has been promoting human rights, good governance, and civic engagement in various capacities in Europe and Central Asia.

Since joining RWI in 2018, she has led RWI programme in Belarus (until 2020), initiated and expanded RWI programme in Armenia, and broadened regional engagement with initiatives in Uzbekistan and the Western Balkans. Her expanding portfolio includes four projects in Ukraine, supported by sub-regional engagement in Poland and Moldova.

In 2023, Ms. Zalanova also assumed the role of Acting Executive Director of the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), an international nongovernmental consortium established in 2002 to help coordinate and support the efforts of legal professionals to rebuild justice institutions in conflict and post-conflict countries. Through its member organisations and individuals, ILAC is comprised of more than 3 million legal professionals worldwide, including judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and court administrators.

Ms. Zalanova teaches regularly international development, human rights, and project management at three faculties of the Lund University in Sweden.

Before joining RWI, Ms. Zalanova worked for the United Nations in Ukraine, leading the UN Volunteers programme with a focus on civic and youth engagement. She previously coordinated rule of law programmes of the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) in Mongolia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, supported regional human rights and justice initiatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Europe and Central Asia, and managed the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, a platform of civil society actors from the EU and Russia.

Ms. Zalanova holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a master’s degree in Security Studies, and a joint (bachelor’s and master’s) degree in International Relations with a specialisation in Non-Profit Management from her studies in the Czech Republic (Charles University, University of Economics) and the United Kingdom (University of Reading).

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